Title

Reading Ability

Problem Scenario

People would want to study this topic,
Reading Ability, to learn more about how people can read, and how well they read. Reading ability is important it helps others know what goes on inside someone's brain. Also can the age difference can affect how much people read? The most likely answer is yes, but some people have trouble reading, and therefor we need to know more about this.

Broad Question

Does the age difference affect how much people read in time?

Specific Question

Does age affect the quantity of words per minute?

Hypothesis

As, ages increase, so will the number of words per minute.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable: Age Difference

Dependent Variable: Amount of words read per minute

Variables That Need To Be Controlled: Time, Age Range

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

Reading-
The action or skill of reading written or printed matter silently or aloud: "suggestions for further reading"; "reading skills".
Time-
Average length of time that the readers of a publication devote to each issue
Age difference-
Differences between people of different ages. May be due to age changes, cohort differences, period effects, or some

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General Plan

I will be conducting my project in Mr. Littlefield's science room. I will be timing how well people can read in one minute. I will be going to Conway Elementary School and testing 1st-6th graders. I will found out how many words they can read in one minute.

Potential Problems And Solutions

I may not have enough people to test, so I will solve this problem by getting more people to test. Also someone could finish a book, before they needed to, i would just have to give them another one.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

People can get headaches, they can get paper cuts, and

Experimental Design

What is your experimental unit?

My experimental unit is one elementary student.

Number Of Trials:

The total number of trials were 106.

Number Of Subjects In Each Trial

The number of subject in each trial is One.

Number of Observations:

The number of observations is one.

When data will be collected

My data will be collected on 2-13-13.

Where will data be collected?:

I will collect my data at Conway Elementary.

Resources and Budget Table

Item	Number needed	Where I will get this	Cost
Poster Board	1	Walmart	$3.00

Detailed Procedure

Step 1: Go over to an elementary school.
Step 2: Talk to the reading specialist
Step 3: Ask for information about the reading at the school
Step 4: Receive information and get the average of each class

Diagram

Photo List

1. The reading scores
2. People reading.

Time Line

Receive Items- 3/11\13 - 3\15\13
Start experiment- 2-13-13
Analyze data- 3/7/13
Experiment Done- 3/1/13
Discussion Done- 3/15/13
Poster Done- 3/22/13
Science Fair- 3/29/13

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Data Table

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Data Analysis

All Raw Data

Graphs

Photos

Results

My graphs show the different reading scores for the grade levels 1-6. The graphs also show that grade six has the higher reading scores and grade one has the lower reading scores. As each grade level increases so did the averages of each of the grade levels.

Conclusion

The age difference affects the quantity of pages read. Some people can read a lot, but as you get older you learn more words and can read faster. If you take the highest reading scores from grades 1& 2 you will see that as the older you get the fast you read, grade ones highest reading score; 118, and grade twos highest reading score is 144, that is only the difference between to grade levels and it is a whole 26 more words. If you take grade 3 & 4 it will also prove that the age difference does affect how many pages you read.Grade three's highest score; 143,and grade fours is 179. The difference between those two is 36 words, again the older you are the more words you read per minute. And if you take the last two grades, 5 & 6, highest scores you will also see that the age difference does affect how many pages you read. Grade 5 highest reading score; 189,and grade 6 highest reading score; 212. The difference between the those two grades is 23. All of those proves that the older you get the more you read.

Discussion

My experiment proved that as people get older and have more knowledge they have, that your reading will get better. Some patterns that I found while doing my experiment was that there was at least one person who would have below average for that grade level, and then at least one person who's reading score would be very above average. The independent and dependent variables have a strong relationship. They both are extremely important to my experiment. The independent variable and dependent variable are age difference and amount of words read per minute. The only way I would have been able to do this experiment is if there was peoples age difference and how many words they can read per minute. I was able to answer my question, does the age difference affect how much people read in time? My final answer is yes, because the older you get the more words you come to know and understand and faster you can learn them, and then the faster you read. My experiment did not come across any problems. My experiment could have been improved if I had used more evidence, and tested more people. Also, I could have started my project earlier and been more on time with everything. To prove my experiment you can look at every graph, and my conclusion. Also, each of the averages of all of the classes proves that even has the whole class moves further and up a level, still will become stronger readers, the averages proves that the class average score also goes up as the grade level does.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

My experiment could benefit the community because it shows how well people can read and how many words they can read per minute. A reading teacher or a Librarian could use this information to help them with teaching, or finding the right book for their readers. My results help science in general because it could help people in the future with discovering why and how people can read. It could also help someone who does a project like this in the future.

Background Research

When a person is reading the brain recognizes a word and therefore making people read faster.
Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols in order to construct or derive meaning (reading comprehension).
If you have the ability to read then you could get a great job.

References

"What Is the Stroop Effect?" WiseGEEK. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.

"Reading (process)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Mar. 2013. Web. 22 Mar.

"7 Pleasurable Ways to Improve Your Reading Ability." Pick the Brain Motivation and Self Improvement. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.

Abstract

My project is all about Reading Ability. While doing this project I found out new things about reading, and how people read. Reading is hard for some people and that's what my project was all about. I wanted to discover the answer to my question, does age affect the quantity of words per minute? And it does, when people are reading people learn at their own pace, and some people can read very fast and very slow. That's what my project proves. For each grade level there is always one person who is bellow average. My experiment proved that as the older you get the more you can read and the more knowledge you have.What I did for my experiment is I went over to an elementary school and got all of the reading scores from the grades 1-6, and learned how well each of those students can read. My experiment was a lot of fun and I learned how well people can read.